User blog:Bubblespawn/The usual suspects - opinions on special infecteds.
There are a whole cast of characters with very specific behavioral quirks that makes them both "fun" and frightening. I have been meaning to write up my opinions and special strategies for dealing with these nasties in the best possible way, so today, I procrastinate no more. Let me start with... The Screamer This fella tends to run from you, but he is always screaming...probably something to do with some past life grievance. However, when he screams, he summons another regular infected, that: *Doesn't give you any Experience when killed *Doesn't contribute to the number count of a secret passage *Doesn't contribute to the number count of a daily quest *Doesn't contribute to the number count of a quest-based objective *Definitely hits you I always try to take these screamers out as soon as possible. Only when they are confronted by you and can't run, will they come up and hit you. If ignored, they can make the number of infecteds in an area unnecessarily large and if you are farming levels, make for unnecessary effort could better be spent on infecteds that actually give you xp. The Catapult Also known as the thrower or pusher, these guys can be good or bad. *'Good:' if there are low levels, and he sends them your way so that you can play baseball with him as your pitcher *'Good:' if there is a horde, and he breaks it up slowly and steadily. *'Bad:' if he throws an enraged avenger your way *'Bad:' if the throws a Protector that suddenly increases the defense of the regular infecteds around you. *'Bad:' if he throws a Tracker or Crawler your way that reduces your movement. When entering into an area with one or two of these, I always take them last unless theres' a chance they will set up one of the Bad situations above. On another note, it is always amusing to see two or three catapults throwing each other around, it kind of looks like a ballroom dance. The Tracker These guys are nasty and are always (or at least appear to be) the first to see me. When they see you, they will inflict an immediate movement penalty on you (not sure if this is root or movement down). Whenever I see one or two of these guys, I run and lead them into a clearer area. That way, when they root me, there aren't any other infecteds around to inflict tons of damage. When clearing an area out, I like to make sure that these guys are taken down sooner than later. I have seen them run through walls, but this is rare. You always know when they have seen you because of the two red eyes symbol that appears above them. I think if there are two of them, the movement decrease is larger and lasts longer If I am not looking to do combat with them, and they have already inflicted a movement penalty on me, I will usually use a Combat Knife on them to inflict Unleashed , which removes the penalty so that I can run. The Protector Next on my list of least favorite conversationalists is the Protector. This SWAT-team uniform garbed, slow moving, super annoying character will take some of the damage of the surrounding infecteds, making it harder to clear out a horde. If he is there, I like to take him out first (making sure I take any Catapults first, so they don't throw him away). You can tell that he is protecting the local horde, because when you hit them, you see tons of the arrow symbol showing up when you hit them. This is because he is taking piercing damage on behalf of the other infecteds. It will appear that they are much harder to hit. This will change if you take him out first. Some say that you can hit them and him at the same time, so it doesn't matter, but my opinion here is that the net time taken to clear out a horde is lower when you take him out first. The Crawler This guy is super nasty. He slows you down to a ...crawl. When you think he is at a safe distance, he suddenly jumps at you, like one of those facehuggers from the Aliens series. If he is close to a horde, I try to wait until he is separate from them before taking him out. Some combinations to watch out for: *Combined with a Puker: The crawler will root you to the spot, and the puker will puke on you. *Combined with a Tracker: Their movement reductions will stack. *Combined with a Protector: This guy will take longer to neutralize. I try to separate these combinations as soon as possible. Remember use a weapon with Unleashed (like Combat Knife ) if you need to run and this guy has slowed you down. The Unstable This guy will burst when you kill him, which will do a few things to the infecteds (and you) near him: *Projection: It will blast those around him radially away by about 2/3m *Toxic Damage: It will give those around him toxic damage for a few seconds *Those closest to him have a chance of being stunned. Immediately prior to bursting, this guy will create a dark circle around him, indicating that he is "about to blow". You might want to take this guy out sooner rather than later, because if someone else (or an enraged avenger) takes him out, you might not be able to get out of the blast radius in time. Since he inflicts toxic after he bursts, I like to set those infecteds around him on fire. Use of an incendiary mine if you have the skill is also good, because it sets the horde on fire, and when he bursts, you get that wonderful staccato effect of toxicity and fire together in a large group, which not entirely unlike popcorn popping, is quite pleasant to listen to. I normally classify this guy on his own as an annoyance rather than a real threat, however coupled with a Tracker or Crawler's Root effects, this guy could stun you and toxify as well as project you into a horde that you would rather avoid if you are not careful. The Avenger The Avenger is an infected with a grudge and a mood instability that causes him, when extremely angry, to attack his fellow infecteds out of rage. He is someone that should be dealt with based on the phase he is in. His first phase, sees him trying to get away from the action. When he is in his first phase, he looks most like the picture on the left, and he is in his most harmless form, however, he will run from you. In this phase, I normally ignore him, because running after him can put you in the path of other infecteds who want to hit you and slow you down. His second phase, call it "mildly annoyed" is when his skin color is slightly redder than his normal form, and he actively seeks you out. This is the phase where you want to deal with him. Let him follow you away from any hordes, and take him out on his own. His third phase, he is extremely enraged, and will attack whoever is near him (player or infected). His attach starts with a few seconds of stun. He can even stun you through a wall. Don't be ashamed to run from this guy. When I was lower-leveled, I found that if left alone for awhile, he reverts to phase 2, and eventually phase 3. In this phase, he has an extremely short attention span, and if there are other infecteds around, you can run away and wait to regenerate while he busies himself with putting some smack on nearby infecteds. The enraged avenger, unless you are equipped with tank-like gear, should be approached with an attack and run strategy. I use the Defensive Formation and Rallying Call skills to increase resistance and create a shield respectively, and if needed use the Self Heal skill when my regenerate is not keeping up with the damage. The Puker Whether he had a rough night out, or ate some past-expired burritos, this guy is always puking. His puke creates the wonderful effect of Vomit which reduces your visibility and slows you down. Immediately prior to puking, a dark circle appears on the ground indicating the area in which he intends to puke (isn't that civil of him :) When fighting this guy, I always keep moving. the moment I see the circle, I either sidestep or move towards him. If you keep moving and attacking him from different sides, keep moving and are ready to jump out of the circle if it appears. Another strategy for this guy is to keep a projection weapon like a baseball bat or studded baseball bat, and when the circle appears, hit him away, then he doesn't puke even though the circle is there. If there are more than one puker, try to align them so that they puke in the same circle. This makes it easer to dodge. This is another of those guys that I consider more of an annoyance or a threat. I am not entirely sure what debuffs the Vomit status gives you, but it lasts a second or two, and is not really that bad. see also: Infected Category:Blog posts